History Main / SpockSpeak

Much of literal SpockSpeak, spoken by [[SelfDemonstratingArticle the character of Mr. Spock himself]], can be traced back to (of all things) [[DangerDeadpan American commercial aviation]]. Gene Roddenberry served as a [[YanksWithTanks US Army Air Forces]] pilot in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and then worked as TWA pilot before he moved to Los Angeles (where he made his living as a cop). The limitations of 1940s and 1950s communications equipment made it hard for a listener to tell the difference between a quick "yes" and a quick "no" - both would sound like a staticky "uh". "Affirmative" and "negative" were easier to differentiate. Standard, precise language also made it easier for pilots to communicate in emergencies -- they didn't have to stop to think what to say. Roddenberry may have based the character of Spock on pilots he knew, in the same way that he based the character of Kirk on Daryl Gates of the LAPD. Yes, that one.

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Much of literal SpockSpeak, spoken by [[SelfDemonstratingArticle the character of Mr. Spock himself]], can be traced back to (of all things) [[DangerDeadpan American commercial aviation]]. Gene Roddenberry served as a [[YanksWithTanks [[UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks US Army Air Forces]] pilot in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and then worked as TWA pilot before he moved to Los Angeles (where he made his living as a cop). The limitations of 1940s and 1950s communications equipment made it hard for a listener to tell the difference between a quick "yes" and a quick "no" - both would sound like a staticky "uh". "Affirmative" and "negative" were easier to differentiate. Standard, precise language also made it easier for pilots to communicate in emergencies -- they didn't have to stop to think what to say. Roddenberry may have based the character of Spock on pilots he knew, in the same way that he based the character of Kirk on Daryl Gates of the LAPD. Yes, that one.

* As much Spock Speak as she uses in the comics, Storm has it ''worse'' in the Mid-'90s WesternAnimation/{{X-Men}} animated series. For whatever reason, the writers of the show felt the need to have her [[CallingYourAttacks invoke her power over the weather]] through long, [[LargeHam over-the-top incantations.]] This may be partly because they felt viewers wouldn't understand what she was doing if she didn't spell it out, partly because she had [[DemotedToExtra comparatively little]] actual dialogue outside of those invocations. As {{Lampshaded}} in a Spider-Man/X-Men cartoon crossover:

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* As much Spock Speak as she uses in the comics, Storm has it ''worse'' in the Mid-'90s WesternAnimation/{{X-Men}} WesternAnimation/XMen animated series. For whatever reason, the writers of the show felt the need to have her [[CallingYourAttacks invoke her power over the weather]] through long, [[LargeHam over-the-top incantations.]] This may be partly because they felt viewers wouldn't understand what she was doing if she didn't spell it out, partly because she had [[DemotedToExtra comparatively little]] actual dialogue outside of those invocations. As {{Lampshaded}} in a Spider-Man/X-Men cartoon crossover:

** To use a specific example, some people with autism (for UsefulNotes/AspergerSyndrome, "pedantic speech" is a diagnostic criterion) tend to value precision and may prefer to speak using something like Spock Speak. Nowadays they are taught—or teach themselves—colloquial speech. Before high-functioning autism was an official diagnosis, such people often found themselves at home as university professors—possibly the [[TruthInTelevision origin]] for the Spock-speaking "absent-minded professor".

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** To use a specific example, some people with autism (for UsefulNotes/AspergerSyndrome, "pedantic speech" is a diagnostic criterion) tend to value precision and may prefer to speak using something like Spock Speak. Nowadays they are taught—or taught -- or teach themselves—colloquial themselves -- colloquial speech. Before high-functioning autism was an official diagnosis, such people often found themselves at home as university professors—possibly the [[TruthInTelevision origin]] for the Spock-speaking "absent-minded professor".

* Legal jargon. Sometimes, all it takes to create a void in a contract or law is a grammar mistake—in one well-known case, a missing comma allowed one party to a contract to terminate it much earlier than the other party expected, costing the second party millions. As a result, legal documents are usually written in highly rigid and formal grammar, using the legal terms exactly as defined in the laws and the legal terms dictionary, and using any other word exactly as defined in Merriam-Webster's (or the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', if you're British), so there can be only one way to interpret the text. The accepted dictionary definitions of words can still be quite subjective; a lawyer's main job is to interpret the written word of the law, hence the need for court cases, where they interpret them in favor of their client. The trend in courts since the '70s has been to be a little more open to reading laws and contracts in a less literal manner, but the damage is already done by that point.

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* Legal jargon. Sometimes, all it takes to create a void in a contract or law is a grammar mistake—in mistake -- in one well-known case, a missing comma allowed one party to a contract to terminate it much earlier than the other party expected, costing the second party millions. As a result, legal documents are usually written in highly rigid and formal grammar, using the legal terms exactly as defined in the laws and the legal terms dictionary, and using any other word exactly as defined in Merriam-Webster's (or the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', if you're British), so there can be only one way to interpret the text. The accepted dictionary definitions of words can still be quite subjective; a lawyer's main job is to interpret the written word of the law, hence the need for court cases, where they interpret them in favor of their client. The trend in courts since the '70s has been to be a little more open to reading laws and contracts in a less literal manner, but the damage is already done by that point.

'''Spock Speak''' (as in Mr. Spock from ''StarTrek'') is a dispassionate, precise and technical way of speaking, indicating the speaker's distance from human society, but also gives the sense that the speaker is very smart. Common for aliens, robots, people from the past or future, geniuses and/or people from stereotypically formal cultures. Similar to RoboSpeak - smarter robots will use Spock Speak.

Specific affectations usually include:

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'''Spock Speak''' (as in Mr. Spock from ''StarTrek'') is a dispassionate, [[SelfDemonstratingArticle dispassionate]], precise and technical way of speaking, indicating the speaker's distance from human society, but also gives the sense that the speaker is very smart. Common for aliens, robots, people from the past or future, geniuses and/or people from stereotypically formal cultures. Similar to RoboSpeak - smarter robots will use Spock Speak.

Much of literal SpockSpeak, spoken by the character of Mr. Spock himself, can be traced back to (of all things) [[DangerDeadpan American commercial aviation]]. Gene Roddenberry served as a [[YanksWithTanks US Army Air Forces]] pilot in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and then worked as TWA pilot before he moved to Los Angeles (where he made his living as a cop). The limitations of 1940s and 1950s communications equipment made it hard for a listener to tell the difference between a quick "yes" and a quick "no" - both would sound like a staticky "uh". "Affirmative" and "negative" were easier to differentiate. Standard, precise language also made it easier for pilots to communicate in emergencies -- they didn't have to stop to think what to say. Roddenberry may have based the character of Spock on pilots he knew, in the same way that he based the character of Kirk on Daryl Gates of the LAPD. Yes, that one.

to:

Much of literal SpockSpeak, spoken by [[SelfDemonstratingArticle the character of Mr. Spock himself, himself]], can be traced back to (of all things) [[DangerDeadpan American commercial aviation]]. Gene Roddenberry served as a [[YanksWithTanks US Army Air Forces]] pilot in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and then worked as TWA pilot before he moved to Los Angeles (where he made his living as a cop). The limitations of 1940s and 1950s communications equipment made it hard for a listener to tell the difference between a quick "yes" and a quick "no" - both would sound like a staticky "uh". "Affirmative" and "negative" were easier to differentiate. Standard, precise language also made it easier for pilots to communicate in emergencies -- they didn't have to stop to think what to say. Roddenberry may have based the character of Spock on pilots he knew, in the same way that he based the character of Kirk on Daryl Gates of the LAPD. Yes, that one.

* TheOtherWiki. They are frustratingly strict about this. This leads to magnificent academic pages, but when it comes to slang, Wikipedia's "Verifiability, Not Truth" policy very much fails.

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* TheOtherWiki.Wiki/TheOtherWiki. They are frustratingly strict about this. This leads to magnificent academic pages, but when it comes to slang, Wikipedia's "Verifiability, Not Truth" policy very much fails.

* Perennial ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' villain The Super-Skrull talks like this, like most of his race we've seen so far. In an issue of YoungAvengers, his lack of contractions even used to [[GlamourFailure identify him posing as another character.]]

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* Perennial ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' villain The Super-Skrull talks like this, like most of his race we've seen so far. In an issue of YoungAvengers, ComicBook/YoungAvengers, his lack of contractions even used to [[GlamourFailure identify him posing as another character.]]

* Double subversion: ''SummonNight: Swordcraft Story 2'' features a robot who initially talks in Spock Speak... but when the main character asks him to speak in a more understandable way, the robot starts using TotallyRadical slang. He later goes back to Spock Speak, much to the relief of both the main character and the player.

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* Double subversion: ''SummonNight: ''VideoGame/SummonNight: Swordcraft Story 2'' features a robot who initially talks in Spock Speak... but when the main character asks him to speak in a more understandable way, the robot starts using TotallyRadical slang. He later goes back to Spock Speak, much to the relief of both the main character and the player.

* ''Anime/TransformersArmada'''s Red Alert thankfully stops after the first use.* In ''TransformersAnimated'', Prowl is constantly saying things like "Fascinating", "Impressive" and "Incredible" when observing organic life.

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* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'': ** ''Anime/TransformersArmada'''s Red Alert thankfully stops after the first use.* ** In ''TransformersAnimated'', ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', Prowl is constantly saying things like "Fascinating", "Impressive" and "Incredible" when observing organic life.

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